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Friday 3 May 2019

Kent and south London rail passengers reminded to check before they travel over early May bank holiday weekend

Region & Route:

Southern

• Thousands of Network Rail staff will work around the clock to deliver a multi-million-pound programme of work
• Most of the railway in Kent and south London remains open over the bank holiday weekend (4 – 6) but some routes will be affected

Passengers are advised to check before travelling ahead of the early May bank holiday weekend as Network Rail completes engineering work to deliver more reliable infrastructure, improved facilities and better services for passengers in Kent and south London.

The majority of services will run as normal over the weekend but there will be changes on some routes.

John Halsall, route managing director at Network Rail south east, said: “I would like to thank passengers for their patience while we work to upgrade the railways and improve journeys for our passengers.

“We know that it’s up to 50 per cent quieter than usual over bank holidays, which reduces the impact of our work on passengers. There will be changes to some services across Kent and south London and I remind passengers to check before they travel.”

Kent and south London upgrade work

On Saturday 4 May:

Services via Grove Park will be amended as work progresses on an £81m project to replace old signalling kit with new, more reliable technology.

On Sunday 5 May:

Buses will replace trains between Lewisham and Dartford via Greenwich and Woolwich Arsenal to finalise work on a £55m project to upgrade signalling from Deptford to Woolwich Arsenal and from Lewisham to New Eltham.

Buses will replace trains between Sevenoaks and Paddock Wood / Tunbridge Wells as the state-of-the-art high output ballast cleaner works to improve track quality, providing passengers with smoother and faster journeys.

On Monday 6 May:

Buses will replace trains between Lewisham and Orpington as engineers work to improve signalling reliability in the area, to reduce faults and delays for passengers.

A breakdown of how some journeys will be affected can be found by visiting nationalrail.co.uk/May and following #MayBHworks on Twitter.

The programme of work is part of Network Rail’s railway upgrade plan – a multi-billion-pound investment in the rail network which will improve passenger journeys in the months and years ahead.